Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Bookish Besties: Which Character Got You Through Your Awkward Years?

Y'all know how I like to keep things fun and light around here on The Book Buff, but I'm about to change pace for a moment and get all deep and sentimental up in this piece.

^^^^actual depiction of what I looked like writing this post^^^^

I remember as a kid I preferred my book friends to real friends. It's true, and I know it's true for many of you. Your book friends were there whenever you needed them and didn't care if you were an awkward preteen suffering through the agony that is puberty. You didn't ever have to think of anything clever to say to impress them, and it didn't matter if your face had broken out terribly that day. You could still be a co adventurer, a co conspirator or co whatever was happening in the story. I know this may sound dumb to some people, but not to the people who get it, and those are the people I'm talking to. I remember growing up and not understanding why I didn't quite fit in. I wasn't a horrible outsider, but I wasn't an insider either, and that weird in between-ness was a terrible place to be. I could always find solace in my books, the books themselves were my friends and the characters were my soul mates. I think this connection early on in my life is why characters are so important to me now when I review a book.

We all had characters that we connected with more than others. These are our bookish besties. Here are the ones I've had throughout my life....

First off are the girls in the series that introduced me to my life long love of history, The American Girls Collection. These books really taught 6 year old me that people in the history books really were people with hopes, dreams and feelings. I remember crying my eyes out while reading a book about Addy, one of their featured girls, who was a slave. There was a scene where she had to eat slugs she missed while tending to the tobacco, and a scene where her brother was sold off to another plantation, these scenes taught me so much about compassion. The books weren't perfect, but they taught me so much. I felt like these girls were my own little historical clique. Yes, I was a nerd from the very beginning. So here were my bookish besties from my early childhood:

Kirsten Larson

Molly McIntyre

Felicity Merriman

Samantha Parkington

Addy Walker

Next up in my list of literary BFFs was the lovely little Lucy Pevensie from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Next came Hermione Granger (you know I had to fit a HP reference in here somewhere) This girl had frizzy hair and was too smart for her own good sometimes, which described me to a tee at that age.

Next on the list is the always popular, Elizabeth Bennett. Who doesn't love miss sassy pants Lizzie?

4 comments:

It's amazing the connections we find with characters, now, and especially as we grow up. In my awkward years, Mia Thermopolis from The Princess Diaries was my literary best friend. I saw so much of myself in her that it made me feel less alone. the-creationofbeauty.blogspot.com

@creation-I've never read the Princess Diaries, I loved the movies when I was younger, but I know they the books and the movies are WAY different.

@Juju-I think I connected most with Addy, even though we had nothing in common. I think her books really helped me grow up in relation to my world view. Her stories brought the most humanity to history for me. But I think the girl I was most like was Molly :) I love that we have a bunch of bookish bff's in common :)